Major Project update Days 1 - 8

First Day:

Whats chalenges was there to face?

• Getting all of my actors together
• Making sure they were all fed
• Starting the filming process

What went well?

All of my cast and crew got along, they intently connected and worked off of each other exactly as I planned. They understood their characters, and above all else, respected my decisions as the director.

My team worked efficiently and the D.O.P as well as Sound did their jobs quickly and professionally when I needed them most.


What didn't go so well?

The times of my actors weren't as perfection ate as I planned, most of my actors didn't drive on set until a little later but still we managed to get things done as much as we could.

Despite everyone getting along so well, there were at times when I need some filming to be prepared and set up for recording, but everyone was just chatting away and messing around a little bit instead of preparing for takes.


Was there anything to take into consideration?
Making sure that receipts are kept from each of my actors buying food so they are payed for their food.


Was there anything I learned?

• Make sure to have each person fed and to be sure that they understand what I need from them in terms of acting before recording.
• To ensure that everyone pays attention and to not waste time on set by messing around and talking too much.
• To clean up and restore the house that people live in when  a filming day if wrapped up.

Second Day:

Whats chalenges was there to face?

• The main challenge was the production design. Agnus's room had to look gloomy dull and scary as she is the scariest character.
• Directing my actors when it came to the panic scene when they had to yell really loud.

What went well?

• Production design went well for Agnus's room as well as the set design for the living room.
• Agnus's costume design went very well as Rhiannon already knew how to do her own makeup.
• The production design went further well as Rhiannon had experience with art and designed the black converses that I bought. She drew a rose, a bloody portrait of Donald Trump and even the stick figure for her intro scene.

What didn't go so well?

• Apart from a lot of sound interference, most of the shoot went as planed.

Was there anything to take into consideration?

• I took pictures to take continuity consideration.
• Making sure that all the props were in the right order.

Was there anything I learned?

• Help can come from unsuspected places.
• Make sure to prepare back up scenes just incase sound is an issue in the spaces you planed on filming.

Third Day:

What chalenges was there to face?

Making sure the design Kevin's room as soon as we got onto set so that way we had plenty of time to set up the lights and camera and get then get striaght onto the recording.

What went well?

• Kevin's Room design fitted the character and we had enough space to get around for close ups and mid shots of Kevin while he is playing his guitar.  

• The room worked so well that it helped out with aspects of location moving as I planned Kevin's room in a different house. Plus it was more convienient as all characters and the film could remain on the main set at all times and we would have to worry about moving locations.  

• The comedy between Robert and Kevin when they are in the corridor. The lines where executed well and timing with Ben's character Robert was planned out exactally as I wanted.  

What didn't go so well?

• When the hours went away to shoot the final scene, power of the lights and sound were beginning to fail before we could get the last shot of the evening.   

• Was there anything to take into consideration?  To take notes of contenunity thoughout each shot incase anything went wrong. To make note of where the lights were so we know exactly where to put them if we needed to reshoot or come back to a spesific place in our main location.  

Was there anything I learned?

• Make sure of the time you are given, sometimes we had to do multiple takes of the same shot just so we got it just right.  Plus the batteries for the lights and the camera where dying as we did a long day

Forth Day:

Whats chalenges was there to face?

• The flashback scenes with two hired child actors.
• Catering for all of my actors.
• Kevin's room scene with Henry.

What went well?

• The child actors acted and understood each and every one of my instructions, they listened and understood what I wanted from them and they were amazing to work with.
• My mum managed to be our caterer for the day and rushed up some cooked food for my actors and crew.
• Kevin's room was really fun to do. What made it even better is that I didn't need a previous location in order to do it, Kevin's room was accessible thanks to the owner of the location I was filming at. They had a spare room with we transformed into Kevin's room, complete with a fridge, posters, sex dolls and had room for his guitar.

What didn't go so well?

• There was a limited space for the filming of Kevin's room, the room was small and some things just couldn't be helped but we managed to squeeze in some lights and the camera though it was are at times to find the right shot I wanted.

Was there anything to take into consideration?

• Making sure all the props were still in the spare room.
• The travel costs for my child actors and their parents.

Was there anything I learned?

• Hiring young actors is a long process but I managed to land some great actors to help out which I think I lucked out on..

Fifth Day:

Whats chalenges was there to face?

• Roberts room hand to be in shape for the conversation scene with both him and Henry.
• The space we had to film in was tight but thanks to cleaver camera angles we managed to film the scene without any disruptions.

What went well?

• The actors worked well off of each other and knew each of their lines off by heart which was incredible.
• The comedy they produced was hilarious.
• We managed to make each take funnier then the script had described.

What didn't go so well?

• The space was quite tight so camera persist ions were very awkward to get right.
• Sound was a bit of a night as the absence outside was quite noisy, children, cars, police and ambulances.

Was there anything to take into consideration?

• Nothing too major just continuity incase we had to film in the room again for back ups.

Was there anything I learned?

• You can take weird advantages of a location, you just have to be creative.
• Always make sure all sound levels are quiet before beginning a take.

Sixth day:

Whats chalenges was there to face?

• Production Designing in Agnus's Room
• Doing more of Henry's scenes

What went well?

• The production design went very well as Agnus's room looked creepy and gothic as the character herself.
• The lighting and acting from my character were was I wanted and they did it perfectly.
• The scene with Henry's breakdown in the kitchen, there was a great idea we added to make the scene funnier. We used a coke can and dropped it onto Henry's head to add more laughter.

What didn't go so well?

• Most of the shots were tight but apart from that everything went as planned.

Was there anything to take into consideration?

• Keep shots of continuity in Agnus's room and the kitchen so everything is the same for extra shot to be planned if anything goes wrong.
• To make sure the props are saved for if any back up shots need to be taken.

Was there anything I learned?

• I learned that in any situation for a comedy genre film, always try and make use of any situation and make it funnier. Every second counts in comedy, the more laughs you put in the funnier the film is.

Seventh day:

Whats chalenges was there to face?

• The intro scene
• The final scene with the landlord
• Making sure I landed my make u artist for that day to help with the land lord's nose bleed.

What went well?

• The make up artist did her job wonderfully, the nose make up worked very well with the actor playing the land lord, he was cooperative, and understood what I needed from him and his character.
• The actor playing the dad done a remarkable job and the shots taken were absolutely perfect and exactly what I planned out and my cast and crew did their jobs perfectly.

What didn't go so well?

• Most camera shots weren't to my usual standard as we were quite rushed into shooting the land lord scene.
• Though making the intro scene was a success there where some aspects of sound I was quite concerned with. The sound of room where it was filmed was quite echoey and most of it would have to be debt with in editing.

Was there anything to take into consideration?

• Making sure that I had the shots of the land lord and to insure that my actor who played the land lord was not harmed when doing his stunt.

Was there anything I learned?

• Always make sure that coverage of each scene is taken care off, don't rush a scene and make sure you have what you need for each scene and make the most of what you had to go on.

Eighth day:

Whats chalenges was there to face?

• Making sure the rest of the house shoot was done, and making sure we had as much continuity errors settles and prepared before shooting so everything was in it's right place.
• Actors were well and fed
• Keeping list of shots to cover before ending

What went well?

• Everyone was in gear and work professionally and quickly
• The shots were each to the point and my decisions were respected

What didn't go so well?

• The hours we spent in the day was long. the house scenes didn't end until 11:30 at night.
• At the start of the shoot around my home town filming the door to door scene, sound lost power and didn't have back up batteries so we had to wait 15 minutes to put in new batteries and restore power to sound to start recording again.

Was there anything to take into consideration?

• I had to conceder the fact that I may need an extra day for pick ups so we get every shot that is needed.

Was there anything I learned?

I learned that this was a very special and fun project to compile together and all the stress, organising and emails were totally worth it, I have learned that I am and always will be a story teller, the future is mine to meld and control, as long as I stick to what I know and aim high, I know I can break the boundaries to get into the industry and make stories for all to see.